Sahiwal shooting: Who gave the order to shoot?

Four people were killed in a shooting in Sahiwal on Saturday. A teenage girl and woman were among the victims.

Officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department were allegedly involved in the shooting. They were arrested the same day on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan. A joint investigation team was constituted to investigate the incident.

The deceased were identified as 42-year-old Mohammad Khalil, his wife Nabila, 38, their 14-year-old daughter Areeba and their friend, Zeeshan Javed. They hailed from Kot Lakhpat. Three children—two sisters and a brother—were in the car too.

The CTD claimed that the car in which the family was travelling had tinted windows, which is why they weren’t able to see the children and woman sitting in the backseat. The CTD also claimed that Zeeshan was a terrorist.

Amber Shamsi, the host of SAMAA TV’s programme Sawaal asks a series of questions exploring what exactly went wrong on that fateful day and why.

She analyses Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat’s statement on the shooting in which he supports the CTD. She asks why the law minister would read out the CTD’s statement before the JIT report is submitted. Would this not influence the findings of the JIT report?

The law minister termed the killings of the three people other than Zeeshan as “collateral damage”.

It doesn’t end here.

Shamsi says that even if the vehicle had tinted windows, why did the law enforcers not stop shooting when screams of women and children were heard?

She explains the details of the shooting and the events after it in chronological order and questions the role of our leaders and security agencies in providing people safety.